Operation Renewed Hope was an international operation led by the US Homeland Security Investigations Cyber Crimes Center (C3) Child Exploitation Investigations Unit (CEOU), to identify previously unknown and unidentified child sexual abuse victims. The operation began on July 17, 2023, and it was completed in August 2023. Results were announced on August 9, 2023.
Method HSI teams utilized existing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) as a basis for analysis to comb through and search for unidentified children, offenders, and locations. This information was packaged up to create leads that were then sent to investigative partners. The precise technology or techniques used have not been revealed to the public. However, the leads were shared with HSI field offices and 25 partner countries in the US and abroad.
The process used facial recognition technology from the US-based company Clearview AI among other techniques to identify victims. That AI technology has been banned by some countries including Australia because it breaches their privacy regulations.
Results The operation allegedly generated: 311 probable identifications of previously unknown victims 14 positive contacts (which includes several confirmed victim rescues from active abuse)
Participating groups and law enforcement agencies The following organizations were involved in the operation: United States United States Marshals Service United States Department of Justice's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Northern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force International partners from: Interpol Europol Australia Austria Belgium Brazil Canada Colombia Ecuador Estonia France Germany Ireland Spain United Kingdom National Crime Agency (NCA) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) International Center for Missing & Exploited Children Tim Tebow Foundation
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